Davidoff Café Espresso 57 Intense Instant Ground Coffee Jar, 100 g

This espresso rates 4 or 4½ stars. Amongst espresso instants, it IS probably the best. But, more generally, I prefer coffee. Below is the text comparing ALL the Davidoff coffees on offer for your comparison choicing. I will emphasize however, two things RIGHT HERE: (a) do not be dilute with this espresso, otherwise its taste is considerably diminished in enjoyment and even the flavor is not as good AND (b) this espresso is NOT good as a mix-in to any of the other Davidoff coffee powders. The rest of the text is the same for all the Davidoff coffees… {for comparing} :

Davidoff has these coffees on offer: [1] FINE AROMA [2] RICH AROMA [3] ESPRESSO 57 [4] CREMA INTENSE; I will review all FOUR plus MIXING THEM (these are all instant coffees and their powders are easily mixed [per-cup/mug basis]). So “item [5]” is mixtures.

For HOT COFFEE, my unequivocal favorite of all time was Caribou Coffee’s AMY’S BLEND. In instant coffee (including also instant coffee mixed with chicory and millicano [instant coffee mixed with tiny specs of ground bean {instant coffee = brewed coffee that has the water evaporated off, so the crystals totally dissolve into water as a solution, whereas bean specs just get suspended in water, like fat globules that make part of milk}]) ANYHOW among all these not-beans-coffee possibilities, Davidoff overall is about 4-star. I haven’t found a 5-star instant or quasi-instant coffee if AMY’S BLEND of Caribou Coffee is my basis of getting 5-star. Kenco Millicano is quite different than Davidoff, but is also 4-star.

That’s for HOT coffee.

HOWEVER: If you will make ICED COFFEE out of the instant (procedure later in my review) there IS a Davidoff coffee that is ABSOLUTELY UNEQUIVOCALLY NO-CONTEST 5-STAR: Davidoff “RICH AROMA”. This coffee however doesn’t get 5-star for hot coffee (3 stars as hot), but it makes the WORLD’S BEST PERIOD ICED COFFEE. So much is the difference (iced vs. hot) that “it is a CRIME” to use Davidoff Rich Aroma for any purpose other than ICED COFFEE. My quotes on ‘it is a crime’ were obviously scare quotes, but I wanted to bash home the point.

Well, there be the overarching stuff (opinions). Some background is in order beyond that all Davidoff are just instant coffee (no coffee bean minute grind [though I am not sure about CREMA INTENSE] and certainly no chicory mixed in. The background you need is my “notes” method of analysis (akin to perfume notes) and my preferences.

“NOTES” (a la perfume notes): Top | Middle | Bottom. But I also think useful is pretending the coffee lover is also an audiophile so we can talk EQ (equalization). Unlike in audio systems, in which I like treble to be suppressed, I LIKE treble in coffee. Haitian was high-treble and delightful, but also very acidic. In coffee though, high-treble prominence of TOP notes was something I liked, but I got tired of Haitian acidity. Haitian wasn’t ONLY top note, but top note was so unequivocally very prominent. In general, heavy in one range of EQ without much of other “frequencies” is bad. FOLGERS (of ANY sort, instant, brewed bean, decaf even) is an audio system with a subwoofer and not much else. Subwoofer-only FOLGERS is THE WORST coffee there is. Maxwell House instant is so HEAVY ON MIDRANGE. That I am not all that fond of Maxwell House shows that too heavy without balancing frequencies is bad. Interestingly, Maxwell House instant Decaf is less midrange-heavy and is one of the best decafs (Sanka is more high note; so depends on your mood in choosing between these two decaf’s.) AMY’S BLEND was all frequencies other than lower bass (and no subwoofer), all in superb balance, with stretching out leisurely throughout, all the way to the top and with no suppression of the treble, no preferential emphases; yet without Haitian’s high acidity. Moreover, the high notes of AMY’s Blend were NOT floral high notes, but more of the fruity-style of high notes.

NOTE TO YOU: So what, about AMY’s BLEND? Yes, you might think that — being that this is a review of DAVIDOFF. But read my description at end of paragraph above so you know my biases. I like: extended “frequencies”, not suppression of treble (in coffee even though in audio I am totally different in this regard). AND I prefer my coffee high notes to be fruity rather than floral. If possible, I prefer the high notes without Haitian-level of acidity. High acidity is OK once in a while, but as routine it gets bothersome. I HATE subwoofer in coffee or any coffee too heavily prominent in any range of frequency without easily detectable counter-balancing-to-some-degree of most of the other frequencies. NOW for the “5” Davidoff coffees where [5] concerns mixing them.

[1] FINE AROMA: This one and Crema Intense tie for BEST choice for HOT coffee amongst Davidoff IF USING ONE CHOICE ALONE. (Best is FINE AROMA & CREMA INTENSE MIXED earning 5 stars for hot coffee). FINE AROMA on its own gets 4 stars. There is nothing objectionable. No excessive subwoofer (FOLGERS), no excessive MIDRANGE without much else (Maxwell House), no excess acidity (Haitian), and NOT BORING. Just quite nice. Yet: Not exciting. The EQ is spread. But I cannot fully characterize this coffee. FINE AROMA I guess I would summarize as having the three attributes of (a) nothing objectionable (b) not boring and (c) yet not exciting. Sorry I can’t do better on this one.

[2] RICH AROMA: Do NOT USE FOR HOT COFFEE. Doing that is a scare-quotes-crime. This coffee (rating 3-star for hot) is THE WORLD’S BEST WHEN USED FOR ICED COFFEEE. YOU CANNOT MAKE A BETTER ICED COFFEEE NO MATTER WHAT YOU TRY TO DO. Use Davidoff RICH AROMA. I guarantee that NO BETTER ICED COFFEE (without added flavorings {almond, vanilla, etc.}) can be constructed PERIOD. And, in fact, if you DO want to flavor your iced coffee (vanilla, almond, etc.) Davidoff RICH AROMA is STILL THE BEST COFFEE to use in such ICED COFFEE CONSTRUCTION. I will, metaphorically speaking, call the “iced coffee police” if I find you making iced coffee with anything else OR using RICH AROMA for hot coffee (although that is a lesser offense). Just trying to give you some humor, because I know I am so wordy and detailed. But anyhow, you get the message on this choice.

[3] ESPRESSO 57 Remarkably, this coffee really DOES taste like espresso. But ONLY IF you don’t be too dilute. Be brave, that is strong. It is a PLEASANT espresso (if you didn’t go dilute) with nice treble reach yet NOT just incisive treble but other HIGHLY INTERESTING EQ notes too. The midrange and upper-midrange give ESPRESSO 57’s treble such a nice basis to DWELL in the treble portion. But unmistakably (if you didn’t go dilute) the taste IS ESPRESSO. Unfortunately, ESPRESSO 57’s smell (aroma) is NOT nice. In this sense, ESPRESSO 57 is the diametric opposite of popcorn. I like popcorn, yes, but I have always maintained — and I still do — that popcorn SMELLS far better than it actually tastes. ESPRESSO 57 is the diametric opposite: it TASTES WAY WAY better than it smells. I won’t describe the aroma. Rates 4 or 4½ for espresso TASTE when you are in that mood — for espresso, rather than coffee. ESPRESSO 57 doesn’t really do much for use in “mixing them” (mixing the instant Davidoff powders). Doing enough of the ESPRESSO 57 into another of Davidoff for your cup to taste the ESPRESSO 57 just gives a complex jumble of taste that is NOT harmonious. Use for expresso ONLY. Hot. Iced might work, but see about my “crime” of not using RICH AROMA to make your iced coffee.

[4] CREMA INTENSE: Crema Intense is an IMMENSELY ROUND taste. That does NOT mean FOLGERS SUBWOOFER; that does not mean excessive Maxwell House Midrange. ROUND and VERY INHERENTLY CREAMY. These, in my experience, are almost UNIQUE in instant coffees. Certainly the INHERENTLY CREAMY is unique in my experience. It is a NOVEL experience drinking a mug of this. However, doing it all the time, I will then miss having my coffee doing some treble to me. (As noted I can do with little treble in audio, but “me likes” a treble bite in coffee.) SOLUTION: MIX. Mix CREMA INTENSE with FINE AROMA. I do NOT recommend 50:50. (more about measures in a moment). I recommend the BASIS be CREMA INTENSE and for the total-absence-of-ANY-bite “problem” the fix you use is to add FINE AROMA (not Espresso 57, no, don’t do that; I tried it; no good). GO TO ITEM [5].

[5] MIXTURES. Do NOT USE RICH AROMA. Remember it is a scare-quotes-[humor]-crime to use RICH AROMA for anything other than ICED COFFEE. In point of fact though, were it not for this crime, RICH AROMA does wok somewhat mixed with FINE AROMA. Recall that FINE AROMA wasn’t boring, but neither was it exciting. But I shan’t go on, you know, because of the “crime” of using RICH AROMA if you’re not making iced coffee. CREMA INTENSE is NOT to be considered an additive to mix in. CREMA INTENSE is THE BASIS, to which adding FINE AROMA (at last) produces DAVIDOFF 5-STAR. Quite different than my all-time favorite of AMY’s BLEND (Caribou Coffee) but knowing how hard it is to give a 5-star, CREMA INTENSE BASIS POWDER + the CORRECT AMOUNT OF FINE AROMA POWDER getting 5-stars is quite an accomplishment. ESPRESSO 57 is not useful for a mixture.

BASIS = CREMA INTENSE + “correct amount” of FINE AROMA: We have the “stoichiometry” issues of measuring powders (how they pack, specifically). Parts of A ratio’d to Parts of B gets problematic when the powders pack in a measuring device (spoon) so extremely differently. CREMA INTENSE is an IMMENSELY (no exaggeration) FINE POWDER. All the other Davidoff instant coffee crystals pack into a spoon such that MUCH AIR takes up the volume of the spoon between the large chunks. Compared to CREMA INTENSE, all the other Davidoff coffees are boulders while CREMA INTENSE is finer than sand. GIVEN THESE FACTS, on a VOLUME BASIS, which is NOT a MASS basis, the idea of CREMA INTENSE as BASIS, with FINE AROMA giving the little bit of bite into some treble range, here be the ratio. You don’t know my little wooden spoon, but it doesn’t (almost not) matter, because it’s a ratio. (Almost has to do with how a pile heaps up owing to the geometrical spoon shape.) [Yep, I’m a chemist — and many other things.] Anyhow, USE 4 OR 5 Mark’s little mini wooden spoons LEVEL of the CREMA INTENSE finer-than-sand-powder AND USE 1½-to-2 of the same mini wood spoon AT SLIGHTLY NORMAL HEAPED-UP of the FINE AROMA BOLDERS. That’s the ratio. Of course, I should compute the grams of each. Sometime I will. But at wake-up time I am not going to get out my analytical scale (which I have). It’s all I can do to use my little wood spoon. It’s tiny, like a condiment spoon. I suppose filled to the SAME LEVEL as the finer-than-sand powder of CREMA INTENSE, the volume amount of FINE AROMA to use is 2 or perhaps 2¼ of the non-heaping spoon to 4 or 5 non-heaping spoons of CREMA INTENSE. Then you get a 5-star Davidoff cup of HOT coffee.

ICED COFFEE: Use near-boiling water. If you use powdered creamer have that mixed with RICH AROMA. Remember the crime. ONLY RICH AROMA and ONLY FOR ICED COFFEE. If you use powdered sweetener, have that powder mixed in too. You don’t have to mix the dry powders. That’s optional. Use enough of the near-boiling water to thoroughly dissolve all powders into solution. If liquid sweetener, such as agave syrup, you can put what you think, but go a little less [liquid sweetener is easily-enough stirred-in even with ice present]. Pour over generous quantity of ice cubes. I prefer NOT tiny ice pieces. I don’t want to swallow them. Account for dilution by melted ice of course. I don’t need to get any more meticulous in instructions to you other than ICED COFFEE IN YOUR MIND SHALL BE SYNONYMOUS WITH DAVIDOFF RICH AROMA. BECAUSE: that makes the best iced coffee in the world. Nothing has even come close. I made several friends this iced coffee and even one friend who likes to argue agreed. AMAZING iced coffee. Alas, this blows-the-world-away iced coffee is not usually what I want for wake-up coffee. But a pick-me-up later-on in the day: SIMPLY GLORIOUS.

Thank you for reading my review. I’ve been doing DAVIDOFF for years. (Amazon won’t show that because I had been buying it from a store. The folks were friendly, but were Russian. I won’t say anymore. But that’s why my Amazon record doesn’t stretch back for years on Davidoff purchasing.) Anyhow, I hope I helped in your choices. And maybe even given you a chuckle or two along the way.

Product is really good but lid is totally broken

The coffee is refreshing and tastes great with water

I choose davidoff better taste and quality is superb

Good Taste & Smell